tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713Tue, 03 Mar 2015 16:51:58 +0000Bad ScienceSecular saintsDodgy AnalogiesLentalt.worshipalt.litSaintsBibleOld jokes retoldGodly OrdermusicDodgy Political AnalogieschristmasPoliticsScienceThe End of the World as we Know itFootballSocial NetworkingEvangelismRantsliturgyEcumenismheresySermonAdvent CalendarLiturgical Dancesocial mediaworshipWinterbad theologyRIPAdventHealth and SafetySoon be ChristmassolsticeAutumnSpringEasterKirstyNew YearSnowSportSummerThomas HardyTraditionBeer TastingMoonTheological ReflectioneschatologyFoodGibbon Moonbad politicsprayerHoly WeekReligious Tolerance in 21st century Bedfordshiremoon gibbonArtChildrenFolkloreGreenPreachingSchismAmericaBeaker FolkIronyParablesPastoralStormy WeatherreligionDruidEquinoxGlobal WarmingSinTea LightsblingfoursquaregeekeryMarriagedoiliesArchaeologyChurch of EnglandGardeningGenderHusborne CrawleyImbolcMootProphecyQuantum of StupiditySocial Networkscyclingearth hourin memoriampunssermonsweddings#enyadayBeaker SecularistsBlame it on the moonlightDemocracyEpiphanyFull MoonGroundhogMenMoneyNot very funnyPumpkinRainSamhainSo long and thanks for all the fish.Spiritual GrowthSwine FluTelevisionWomenbad jokestechnologyBlueCelebrityCelticEconomicsHalloweenHistoryLove winsRipplesSomething Nasty in the WoodshedStonehengeWicker Manbad archaeologybeakermissionspontaneitystatisticsDrinkDrinking AlcoholEducationGameGuinea Pig FolkHarvestHealingHi-VizHnaefMake Money from the GullibleMay DayMilton KeynesMyers BriggsNew MoonOutdoor BaptismPagan OriginsSwine Flu Policy UpdateTheodicyWorld of WorkYulebig brotherholidaymemespoetryradio husborne crawleyvery dodgy analogies#SH20111984All Souls' DayChanneling the spirits of tadpolesChoir PowerConspiracyCreationCricketDrayton ParslowDunstable DownsFamilyFrost FrenzyGenesisGod existsHappy BirthdayHoly PenguinsHow the dead liveKing JamesLHCLanguageLondonMeetingsMoralityNoticesPebblesPet ServiceRandomSadnessSpanish sausagesSpirtualityThought for the DayToleranceWorkYouthapplesbad historyconspiraciesend timesenglandfirehermits of suspicionikonslovepedantrysectssecularistsstone Circlesthin placestwelfth nightweather#5152AmericansAnachronismsBarcodesBullyingBurning BooksBusinessCarsChocolateCountry CraftsData MiningDon't try this at homeEnd of daysEqualityEuropeExamsFacebookFlying Spaghetti MonsterForeign beliefsFreedomGod-shaped holeGreatH2G2Holy AppleHumanIdolatryIf a body catch a body coming through the ryeIncenseInitiation ceremonyInternet ChaplaincyIraqJohnny BallJust sayingLarge Hadron ColliderLey LinesLiturgical DramaMMMeaningless ApologiesMegalithsMerchandisingMoon Gibbon FolkMoon ShotMoot HouseNice Things Happen to Nice PeopleOld friendsOxbridgePink FloydPlagiarismPouring-out of BeakersProtestant HistoryRain DanceScriptureSolemn League and CovenantSpaceSpace LaunchesSpiritSpiritual WarfareSpring EquinoxSunSympathetic MagicTaxThat LondonThe Beaker SocietyTrainingValentineWe Support Dave WalkerWe will remember themWinter SolsticeWorship dynamicsan apology to Pipersatheismbad economicsbloke-ismcharitychurchconcerneddodgy parablesdroughtdvlafestivalsfloodinghandfastinghardyhill figureshippieshymnsjusticeliteraturemanmethodismmodern life is rubbishmorrisseymythspentecostphilosophypolitical reformposhproperty ladderrelicssabbathspiritualitystones n tea lightsteatheologytrainswarwessexwhite horseynwaπ#RomComRules#yawn13201222nd May4/74th of JulyAgony ArchdruidAuthorityBBCBSTBad FolkloreBad GreekBadoom/TishBiblesBrokenBunny HuggingBurning BiblesClassColour BlindnessCouncil of NiceaCrystal TherapyDaft NamesDanceDaysDe LoreansDebunkingDerren BrownDiademataDiplomacyDogmaDomesticDon't go to SudburyDruidic SynodDrumsDry-stoneDuckDuckhengeDumbing DownEdward WoodwardEnsembleEntitlementExpensesFaith-Propelled VehiclesFamous TweetsFathersFeedjitFogFollowersForklift.Fourth of JulyGabble RachetsGive Peonies a ChanceGod blessGoddessesGoogle StreetviewGreatest Living ArtistGrinton-in-SwaledaleGuidanceGuy Fawkes is innocentH2G2TGHR IssuesHadronsHe is RisenHead in a jute bagHellHengeHerne the HunterHeroesHolly Husborne CrawleyHuman rightsHunter's MoonHuntingIIdentityImportant Current AffairsInclusiveJLPJerusalemJoseph of ArimatheaJubileeKeith WaterhouseLa TeneLabelsLagerLammasLibertyLothlorienLutonM1MFIMSEMagenta AlertMajor PurchasesMaryMay EveMayan CalendarMeepMessiahsMidsummer Night; in memoriamMottMuppetsNSMNamingNasty commentsNewsNo Staples Please We're BritishNo resemblance to particular people intendedOdinOven-ready ChickensOverused punsPainPalm SundayPanto ServiceParish NoticesPatricia Hewitt knew my unclePerfumePersonal FreedomPiPin the tail on the ArchdruidPinkPlease update your statusPokemonPreparationPrincipalProofPutting a Bag on your HeadQQuangosQuilt MakingQuizRaindanceReflectionsRelaxationRemember AgincourtRepublic of IrelandRhyming SlangRidgmontRight but RepulsiveRoger WatersRomeRonnie WoodRubblesRussian Vodka WarehouseRutting moonSI UnitSSMScandalShopliftingSimon CowellSir Bobby RobsonSits VacSo longSport ReliefSt David's DaySummer FeteSwords and SorcerySymbolTadpoles are spiritual tooTamifluTerms of ReferenceTerry WoganThanks and FarewellThe Evil Apollo MissionThe HoopleThe Joy of SectsThe difference betweenThings that should be bannedThrough Gritted TeethTiger WoodsTrilithonTruthWalesWassailingWe shall remember themWheat and TaresWhen Aliens go CatholicWilliam BlakeWoburnWonders of the UniverseWoodhengeWorship workshopWrong but WromanticX-AnglicanY-chromosomeYewth Crimeabominationsaccountancyadvertsall soulsallegoryalternativeand thanks for all the fishanniversariesannunciationartificial intelligenceartistryassembliesbad analogiesbad designbad literaturebandwagonbank holidaybeltanebiblical literalismbirthdaysboat racecalcedoncandlemascareers advicecatscharismachemicalschristianityciderclimate changecomedyconversionscookerycrimecriticismcrockerycroquetdanger for rodentsdeathdietdodgy parodiesdody political analogiesdotcomdreamsebudaeevilexcommunicationfablesfailurefairy lightsfaithfashionfeedfeetflu feverfolk we light a tea light forfoursquare travelfoxfridayfuneralsget well soonhairharry potterharvest festivalheritagehigh-vizhospitalhumourinitiationjokesjunkkaraokelabyrinthlandscapeleadershiplest we forgetlightmanly churchmediamedicinemeditationmelancholymellstock quiremidsummer nightmiraclesmonty pythonmorningmorningsmythname-droppingoccupyold man of the woodsold puns we've done beforeone directionontologypaganpebble worshippersecutionphone spellibfpicturesque tragedypiespipersplanningpoor analogies taken too farpoor metaphorspoor tributesposhnesspregnancy liturgiespsalmspubquotesrapturerelationshipsrelics ynwaresearchretractionritualritual lake; beaker folkrocketroyaltyrugby unionrulesschoolsscience and bishopsseasecurity levelsequelsshinsshredderslippery slopessocial mediiastewartbystresssummer winesupergluesurveysteleologythanksgivingthe hamster of atonementtheological geekerythis onethunderstormstradition.traditional peruvian delicaciestreating our loved onestreestribalismtribute actstripstrufflestyposunicornsuniversityunweddingwassailweather optimismweddingweirdwesleyswhat could go wrong?what would Jesus Drive?what's the point?whipsnade white lionwhither now?windwind chimeswomen bishopsx-factorBeaker Folk of Husborne CrawleyAn Oasis of Fuzzy Thinking - the post-Christendom paradigm with added tea lights!http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)Blogger4421125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-7458049724210903351Mon, 02 Mar 2015 20:30:00 +00002015-03-02T20:33:50.348+00:00Dr Seuss - A Birthday PsalmI am Sam<br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LmPR0b8xYZE/VPTGFznYn6I/AAAAAAAACJY/n-HmHIQFTAk/s1600/sam%2Bi%2Bam.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LmPR0b8xYZE/VPTGFznYn6I/AAAAAAAACJY/n-HmHIQFTAk/s1600/sam%2Bi%2Bam.gif" /></a><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Sam I am<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like that Sam I am.</span><br /><br />Do you like green eggs and ham?<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like green eggs and ham</span><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like them, Sam I am.</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qcdVHs_oTAE/VPTIMz0cfMI/AAAAAAAACJk/MH3vP3iClFg/s1600/Green%2BEggs%2Band%2BHam.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qcdVHs_oTAE/VPTIMz0cfMI/AAAAAAAACJk/MH3vP3iClFg/s1600/Green%2BEggs%2Band%2BHam.gif" height="205" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like them on a table</span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><span style="color: red;"></span></div><span style="color: red;">I do not like them in the Tower of Babel&nbsp;</span><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span><span style="color: red;">I do not like them in the dark</span><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like them in an ark</span><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span><span style="color: red;">I do not like them in a crypt</span><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like them in Egypt</span><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span><span style="color: red;">I do not like them when unaided</span><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like them with King David</span><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span><span style="color: red;">I do not like them with an amoeba</span><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like them with Bathsheba</span><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span><span style="color: red;">Not with a scapegoat, not with a ram</span><br /><span style="color: red;">not with Goliath not with Abraham</span><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span><span style="color: red;">I do not like green eggs and ham</span><br /><span style="color: red;">I do not like them, Sam I Am.</span><br /><span style="color: red;"><br /></span>Why don't you like green eggs and ham?<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">BECAUSE IT'S NOT KOSHER</span>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/03/dr-seuss-birthday-psalm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-260724112803420773Mon, 02 Mar 2015 19:12:00 +00002015-03-02T20:01:34.673+00:00The Manly Manifesto<div dir="ltr">Tomorrow is an exciting day for the Beaker Folk. It's the day of our Manly Manifesto. A whole day when the Manly Men of the community, freed from the feminising agenda of the women, can explore what it means to be a man. A manly man. In a Christian way. A Christian, manly way. And without any hint of being gay. Not that they're anti-gay, of course. </div><div dir="ltr">Unfortunately every time they tried to plan it, they were all so busy trying to be Alpha Males - shouting "Damn!" and drinking straight Scotch - that nobody ever actually got round to a schedule.&nbsp;</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Which is why I've done it for them.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>8am - Manly Morning Worship</b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">I'll be honest, I'm expecting this mostly to be scratching, belching and worse. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>8.10am - Men's Leadership Breakfast</b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">A lot of talk of leadership - the need for it, its importance, what to do with it. Why the old idea of "the first will be last" don't cut it so much in these managerialist days.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>8.45 am - Keynote Speech</b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Yan Hairyman, on the subject: "Pushing your way to the front is Servanthood too".</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>9.30 - Coffee</b> </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>10 am - Jesus the Manly Man</b></div><div dir="ltr">Snosgraz considers Jesus in the light of the Gospel evidence:<br />- He had a beard. Not a stupid, hipster beard. A proper, manly beard. <br />- He hung out with proper, manly blokes. Men with beards. Proper, manly beards. - And none of this was in a gay way. Not that it would matter if it were. No, not at all. But it definitely weren't. <br />- He spent a lot of time in the wilderness, like Bear Grylls.<br />- He used to chase people around with whips and throw tables at them.<br />- Women used to cook him dinner, and cry at his feet. </div><div dir="ltr">From this, delegates will break into small groups to ask the question "Who would Jesus Duff Up?" - an exploration of a new, manly paradigm for male Christianity. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>11am - Unarmed Bear-killing</b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr">(Beginners level: Gerbils)</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>12 noon - Manly Lunch</b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">The small groups will head onto Aspley Hearh to catch and kill woodland animals to eat, just like Jesus would.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>2pm - Jurgen Moltmann is a Big Girl's Blouse</b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Radical Manly-Christian speaker, Mark Bisto, tells the survivors from Lunch that all theology is fundamentally a bit soft.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>3pm - Said Even-Song</b></div><div dir="ltr">(because singing is a bit soft, and only boys with high voices do it).</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>3.30 - Unarmed Bear Killing</b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr">(Intermediate level: Chinchillas. But be careful, they can nip a bit)</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>4pm - Who would Jesus Support?</b> </div><div dir="ltr">The big debate - if Jesus lived in England now, which football team would he follow?&nbsp; This may be resolved with a certain amount of manly, friendly wrestling to sort out the issue, which won't be at all homo-erotic.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>5pm - Go Into All</b><b> the World to Be Blokes</b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">The closing banter will be delivered by Snosgraz, who will encourage the men that, through the power of testosterone and delusional self-belief, they can change the world. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>6pm - Being Told Not to be so Stupid</b></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Our Manly Men share their Manly Action Plans with their partners.</div>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-manly-manifesto.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-1453724615144238073Mon, 02 Mar 2015 08:41:00 +00002015-03-02T08:41:13.062+00:00Cancelled Due to Apathy<p dir="ltr">Our "Gray Day Service", intended to enable us to express our faith even in annoyingly dull conditions, is cancelled due to apathy.</p><p dir="ltr">Frankly it's just as well, as I couldn't be bothered to write the sermon. </p><p dir="ltr">And I know the Quire hadn't practiced as they thought the songs were a bit dull and unimaginative.&nbsp; Well, of course they were. I didn't have the time to think and pray through them, check the key sequences worked. So I just used the ones from last week. The ones everybody said were uninspiring. I thought they'd do.</p><p dir="ltr">I really ought to go and put a notice up on&nbsp; the Moot House door. But it's gray,&nbsp; and cold out. So I won't worry about it too much. </p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/03/cancelled-due-to-apathy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-7743855918407108953Sat, 28 Feb 2015 22:37:00 +00002015-02-28T22:37:05.517+00:00A Sharp Edge and a Cross<div class="page" title="Page 7"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’</span>&nbsp;</blockquote><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The time of Lent is a time for sharp edges. It's not a time for fuzzy niceness. You can do that at Harvest.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">The fluffy bunny style of theology says that all things are nice, people are nice, God is nice and we should be nice. Now being nice to people is fine. But God isn't "nice". God is not a fluffy bunny. God is portrayed in the Bible as in many respects quite scary. And that's not where the Gospel is. I knew an old preacher who told me he was going to "preach the Gospel", and preached an entire sermon on the Resurrection. He didn't mention the Cross - the thing that brought the Resurrection about - once. That wasn't the Gospel. It was nice, but it wasn't the Gospel.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Jesus is listing the people that he will be rejected by. The elders - so, the rabbis, the community leaders. The chief priests - the people at whose hands the sacrifices are made that mean people can come close to God. The scribes - the ones who understand and interpret the Law of Moses - which is the gift of God through whom the people of God can keep themselves holy. The full apparatus of local and religious life and institutions will be brought against Jesus. As a Jew, he will be a nobody. And the challenge Jesus lays out is - can you be like that?</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you be cut off from the whole support structure of your family, your street, your religion, your community? Would you see your next-door neighbour rush inside the house rather than talk to you? Your former friends cross the road rather than be associated with you? That's where some of our brothers and sisters are today.</span><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>Would you consider the possibility that your relatives - yourself - might be raped, kidnapped, killed for the sake of Jesus? That's where some Christians are today. What would I do today, with the thought that my son could be tortured and murdered because of my belief? &nbsp;I don't know. It's not the cross I'm carrying. And if I thank God for that, I also have to pray far more fervently for those that are suffering.<br /><br />It's easy to troll through the history of the Church and find great saints to set before us as an example. But even that is not necessary. Two weeks ago, 21 Coptic Christians were murdered on the beach in Libya for the sake of Jesus. The last words of many of them were, "Lord Jesus". &nbsp;The blood of the martyrs has flowed through the Roman empire, through the Reformation, through the atheist Communist atrocities of the 20th Century, down through the Islamist murders of this current one. Because it seems there is nothing Satan hates more than the people who follow the man of peace. Because a man of peace, and justice, humility and putting others above yourself - is the thing that Satan fears above all else.<br /><br />The word "martyr" has been much-abused by Islamists - not Muslims, Islamists - &nbsp;recently. I guess my take on it is this. When somebody blows up innocent others - and kills themselves - they're not martyrs. They're murderers. When somebody dies fighting to take away other people's liberty - they're not martyrs. They're failed oppressors. But when somebody dies simply for their faith - holding to what they hold to be true, whether they're <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USSR_anti-religious_campaign_%281928%E2%80%9341%29">Christians in the <u>USSR</u></a>, <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/100000-minority-rohingya-muslims-flee-persecution-myanmar-1471762">Muslims in Burma</a> - an <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/27/american-atheist-blogger-hacked-to-death-in-bangladesh">atheist in Bangladesh</a> - they're a martyr. They've died witnessing to what they believe is true, and they've not done it at the expense of anybody else.<br /><br />As Christians, we're called to follow Our Lord wherever he leads. It's not good news on a short scale, this one. When Jesus tells his disciples what's going to happen, Peter tells him off. Come on Jesus, this doesn't need to happen. You can keep being a preacher - keep on the behaving well stuff. Maybe lay off the "kingdom of God" theme. That's never gonna go down well with the authorities, bashing on about alternative powers, higher forms of government than they can call upon.<br /><br />"Get behind me, Satan." Peter's looking at the short-term view. He's weighing up the odds for the next few years - but there's much greater weight in the scales than he realises.<br /><br />Jesus sees a cross - a short time of death - and beyond it, an open tomb and a new hope for the world. He knows that the easy route - Peter's route - leads to a life as a much-loved prophet, audiences with Herod, tea with Pilate - dinner with Annas and Caiaphas, discussing how Jesus's movement can best be channeled into raising funds for the Temple. This is why Jesus says "Get behind me Satan" - he's echoing the approach of the Dark One in the desert. Take it easy, do your magic, draw the crowds - you can be on the gravy train for life.<br /><br />But Jesus's choice is starker than that. If he takes the easy, cushty route then he's leading his followers down the primrose path to hell. He'd be saying that belief is about sitting round, feeling good, thinking how great God is... everything except the thing he's come for.<br /><br />And what he has come for? Is to set out God's priorities. That the poor, the child, the weak, the oppressed come first. That the rich, the so-called grown up, the strong, the one with power comes last. That power over another may be strength in this world - but on an eternal scale it's a disaster. .Because power, money, strength - they are delusions. They exist for a while, but they fade. Or you die and they're gone. And then you have another set of rules to deal with.<br /><br />The Church goes wrong when it allies with those with power. It always has. When it sides with vested interests - whether the king and the nobles in medieval England, or the power of capital in the United States, or the dictatorships of South America. On either side of a division between power and weakness, you will always find Jesus on the side of weakness. Because a man nailed to a cross can't side with power. He knows it all too well for what it is. This is not to say that money is bad, or power can't be used well. But weakness is the side that Jesus is on.<br /><br />Remember the moment when Frodo offers the ring to Galadriel? She's the elf-queen, the mighty one. He is a three-foot gormless berk with a mighty artifact he can't control. He says to her take it. Her response<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!'<br />She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illuminated her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming now tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.<br />'I pass the test,' she said.'I will diminish, and go into the West and remain Galadriel.'"</blockquote>Galadriel has a choice we all have. To use the power we have for good - or evil - or to give it up. Jesus would have made a very good, wise teacher, stayed alive, worked his way round the powers-that-were: done everything but been the Messiah of God. But he chose to go another way. To align with the weak, to preach good news to the poor, to declare that a world order was turned upside down and the strong would not have it their own way forever.<br /><br />Because the cross is a sign of weakness, a sign of failure. A sign that power hates humility. That the very thing that the dark one fears is one who willingly gives himself for others. We are not called to pick up a sign of victory - or not as the world knows it. We pick up a sign of slavery, of oppression, of defeat. And in siding with the weak and defeated we side with the God who loves the weak and the poor.<br /><br />I don't know what your cross will be, or is, specifically. But I know that it's the point at which you give up your rights, your strength and your power - and suffer for the Kingdom. For most of us - not the People of Christ in the Middle East - it won't be a literal cross. But the reminder is there before us all the time. If even the King of the Ages was nailed to a cross, what rights do we cling on to? If the one who made the stars is hung naked before a baying crowd, how do we dress up our own ambitions and desires? It sets the things we prize most, and the things that matter most, in sharp contrast - an edge on which we can fall either way.<br /><br />When I survey the wondrous cross<br />On which the Prince of Glory died<br />My richest gain I count but lost<br />and pour contempt on all my pride.</div></div></div>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-sharp-edge-and-cross.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-168728345334077476Sat, 28 Feb 2015 09:05:00 +00002015-02-28T10:29:38.651+00:00The Secret Sunday School Teacher - Somebody is Letting the Play-Doh Dry
Out<i>Inspired by the Guardian article where teachers whinge, "Grismella" writes this searing insight from the dusty room behind the church hall</i>.<div><br></div><div>I suppose the reasons why I got into Sunday School teaching were much the same as other people's. I like coming to church. We have nice biscuits. I like the first two songs which are always quite jolly. But I found the sermons really boring, and I enjoy cutting up card. And, of course, a profound sense of calling. And in the early days it was great fun. Apart from the children.</div><div><br></div><div>But the fun's not there so much any more. In past, it has just been that the "Roots" magazine has maybe had an off week and I've had to think about what the Bible is trying to say. I could cope with that. Even though young Daniel, whose mother is the vicar, would keep coming up with trick questions like "if Genesis is true, why didn't the dinosaurs eat the cave men?" In the end I had to ask the vicar. She told me Adam, Cain and Abel killed them all because they were fed up with the droppings. Especially the pterodactyl. You wouldn't want to get that in your eye.</div><div><br></div><div>And now something more sinister has happened. Somebody has been letting the Play-Doh dry out. You have no idea the stress that puts on you. Especially when you are making models of the animals on the Ark. I tell myself it was just carelessness. But there's always that nagging suspicion. Especially when you know that Radnor is after your job.</div><div><br></div><div>Radnor is 18. She's grown up in the church. It's three years since she left Sunday School of course. But she's told us her plan is to become a Sunday School teacher rather than stay in the service on Sunday mornings. But - mark this - <i>we have no vacancies. </i>So she sits around offering to "help". She says she will cover for us if anyone is away or ill.</div><div><br></div><div>But I think she is deliberately poisoning me. Last month, I had terrible stomach and head aches on Sunday morning. Radnor "stepped in" and was of course told what a great job she'd done, how everybody appreciated her help at short notice. Everybody giving her the praise I <i>don't</i> get every week. But my suspicion is that she had followed me and my friends down to the curry house where we had a meal the day before, pouring extra chilli in my Lamb Naga and putting something in the shots we drank afterwards in the night club.</div><div><br></div><div>And Radnor is "ever so good" at tidying up when the work has finished and we've sung the "Arky Arky" song. Although she drops hints that maybe the "Arky Arky" song is a bit old-fashioned. So I think Radnor has been deliberately leaving the top slightly loose on the Play-Doh to ensure it goes rock hard over the week. And sticking glitter on the Pritt Sticks so the first glue of the week is always really shiny and hard to spread. And I know she looks like she is being kind when she sharpens all the colour pencils. But I know she is deliberately breaking the leads to disrupt my sessions.</div><div><br></div><div>I have stressed to the vicar that she must never ever go to another church. She's been here 10 years now, but young Daniel and his dangerous views on dinosaurs will soon be too old for Sunday School. And once he's old enough for university maybe the vicar will decide it's time for a new calling. And if the next vicar is a man, and Radnor looks up with those sulky, soulful eyes and tells him she'd really like to be a proper Sunday School teacher and not an assistant - that's going to be it for me, isn't it?</div><div><br></div><div>I sometimes think that I'm reading things in that aren't there - letting my own paranoia and fears that I'm "not a very good teacher - always worrying about yourself and not helping us", as Daniel put it, get me down. I'd discuss it with the Sunday School leader. But I reckon she and the other teachers are breaking the biscuits while I get my cup of tea after Sunday School. I always get there last, as I've got to watch Radnor put everything away. Make sure she doesn't leave the lid off the Play-Doh. She does that, you know.</div>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-secret-sunday-school-teacher.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-7564444150332289924Fri, 27 Feb 2015 21:50:00 +00002015-02-27T21:50:47.792+00:00Thought for the DayWhether in work or Church, there's nothing wrong with flying by the seat of the pants.<br /><br />As long as you're flying alone.<br /><br />And they're your own pants.http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/thought-for-day.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-2544601342830337134Fri, 27 Feb 2015 18:01:00 +00002015-02-28T19:13:33.148+00:00Liturgy on the Passing of Leonard Nimoy<p dir="ltr">Hymn: Star Trekkin'</p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: In the end, we're all just red-shirts on God's star ship.</p><p dir="ltr">Hnaef: There's Klingons on the starboard bow,&#160; Archdruid. </p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: Mr Scott, set the photon torpedoes to 83-gun salute. </p><p dir="ltr">All: Beam her up, someone </p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: Worship the Lord your God.</p><p dir="ltr">All: For that is logical. </p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: Do not fall in love with aliens like Capt Kirk does. </p><p dir="ltr">All: For they shall surely perish in unexpected ways.</p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: And do not tribble yourself about tomorrow - what colour shirt you shall wear.</p><p dir="ltr">All: For sufficient unto the day are the tribbles thereof </p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: Those who live by the photon torpedo </p><p dir="ltr">All: ....shall die by the photon torpedo.</p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: How logical are those who teleport.</p><p dir="ltr">All: For they shall inherit someone else's earth.</p><p dir="ltr">Psalm 3 ("Thou, Lord, art a deflector shield about me")</p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: Mr Spock has boldly gone where many have gone before. </p><p dir="ltr">All: Unto the final frontier. </p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: We know he won't be coming back for now.</p><p dir="ltr">Scotty: Ye cannae break the laws of physics. </p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: And we'll surely hear from George <u>Takei</u> soon.</p><p dir="ltr">All: To boldly share like no Facebook user has shared before. </p><p dir="ltr">Archdruid: But we say, Leonard Nimoy who was the best alien of all: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. [ False ears and Vulcan salute everyone..... ]</p><p dir="ltr">All: Live long and prosper. </p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/liturgy-on-passing-of-leonard-nimoy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-3796084128922873022Fri, 27 Feb 2015 08:02:00 +00002015-02-27T08:02:21.390+00:00If you see George Herbert in the Road, Emulate Him<p dir="ltr">"He was noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing the sacraments to them when they were ill, and providing food and clothing for those in need....Never a healthy man, he died of consumption at the early age of 39."</p><p dir="ltr">On this Saint George Herbert's Day, I pledge myself to unfailing care of the Beaker Folk. I shall take tea lights to those who are ill. I shall provide pebbles and food for those in need.&#160; I shall mop their consumptive, romantic brows. I shall be unstinting in the time I put into this sacred mission. And then, when the day's labours of care are o'er, I shall long bother the night watches with the composition of metaphysical poetry.</p><p dir="ltr">Thank goodness it's only one day a year. I'm dreading it. Not surprised it killed George Herbert</p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/if-you-see-george-herbert-in-road.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-7184824478210873802Thu, 26 Feb 2015 21:46:00 +00002015-02-26T21:46:43.142+00:00Getting Your Priorities Right<p dir="ltr">I've been reflecting on a clear, but illustrative point.</p><p dir="ltr">If you are reading this on a computer,&#160; look at the 'Top 10 Ever" of posts on this blog's sidebar . All enlightening,&#160; amusing and challenging, sure. All - more to the point - about the minutiae of church life. What is absurd about being a Christian; what sort of Christian are you. </p><p dir="ltr">Not apologetics. Not, as for the last 48 hours, pouring scorn on atheist Dawkins fan boys. </p><p dir="ltr">I consider the daily 2,000 readers I typically get for a bit of silliness about Church profiles. I compare it to the 20 readers of the, to me, gripping question of how God might be involved in Creation without turning up and waving a magic wand. (Clue: the words to consider are 'in him we live and move and have our being').</p><p dir="ltr">What does this tell us? I'm a big science fan. I have an Oxford MA in Chemistry. I love science, me. The way religion and science shed light on each other - I love all that. Seeing some wannabe Dawk spouting off in a mixture of ignorance and confirmation bias - or some creationist doing the same, for the two positions are illegitimate half-siblings, not opposites - that gets me grumpy. Sends me off to create a mountain of snark. </p><p dir="ltr">But the typical churchgoer is miles ahead of me. They know Richard Dawkins and his ilk are basically just wasting good breathable air when they spout forth. They don't care if I satirise the excitations of the Richard Dawkins Foundation, or whatever it's called.</p><p dir="ltr">Because my readera have more important things to worry about. How many buttons on the cassock of an evangelical who's quite fond of the 39 Articles? What type of incense to use Plough Sunday?&nbsp; Is it green or gold from Epiphany to Pentecost? Now that the Food Bank appears to be functioning properly in town, should we expand to renting the school on the middle-class estate? These are the things my readers mostly worry about. </p><p dir="ltr">Arguing with scientism and radical atheism - that's of no interest. If you are collecting a car boot-load of groceries for the local people who can't make ends meet, you ain't got time to worry about Stephen Fry. You want to help your fellow people, then get home to an argument about what colour the third candle in Advent should* be. </p><p dir="ltr">That's why the readers of this blog care more about which Charismatics are always forgotten about** or what the weight of a churchwarden is if expressed in badgers***, than an argument about whether God exists. </p><p dir="ltr">They know God exists. And they've got their priorities right.<br></p><p dir="ltr">* Rose. Or, if you are a man, pinkish. <br>** Catholic Charismatics<br>*** European or African badger?</p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/getting-your-priorities-right.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-8300766073270884415Thu, 26 Feb 2015 00:58:00 +00002015-02-26T01:04:56.738+00:00New Scientific Hypothesis Proves the Existence of GodIt's late, and I've given up Social Media for Lent. But I've just realised I've missed something important. And I wish what I'd missed was the<a href="https://richarddawkins.net/2015/02/god-is-on-the-ropes-the-brilliant-new-science-that-has-creationists-and-the-christian-right-terrified/" title="Don't click on this link, you'll only regret it"> Dawkins fan-boy page discussing it.</a>&nbsp;There is nothing looks more like a faith than a bunch of people drawing completely erroneous conclusions from something, is there? Which is what the Dawkins fan-boys are doing. Bless them. They've got to believe in something.<br /><br />So let's think about what <a href="http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-least-scientifically-and.html">that hypothesis of Jeremy England's</a> that I was just referring to (and the Independent was failing to understand) was saying. It was saying that the nature of our universe is such that life can spontaneously evolve. That the very fabric of probability is such that entropy can drive evolution.<br /><br />It's almost, wouldn't you say, like it was designed that way? Almost like it was reflecting the very person-hood and life-giving nature of a living Creator. Chuck in the quantum anthropic principle that no quantum universe could exists without an observer, and, as&nbsp;Oolon Colluphid might say, that just about wraps it up.<br /><br />I'm playing, of course. Obviously, the way to interpret evidence is the way you want to. That's what good scientism is all about.http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/new-scientific-theory-proves-existence.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-5788142256962967932Thu, 26 Feb 2015 00:24:00 +00002015-02-26T00:24:49.307+00:00Overturning Guardian OrthodoxyIn October <a href="http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-guardian-gets-it-wrong-again.html">I wrote a blogpost pointing out that the Guardian</a>, on religious matters, except for Andrew Brown, didn't know what is was talking about.<br /><br />I am pleased to note, thanks to a correspondent, that the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/05/spain-christian-history-challenged-discovery-4th-century-glass-plate">article I was complaining about was changed </a>to make it more boring but, more importantly, more historically accurate.<br /><br />I'm not claiming any credit. But it's nice to know that they do learn occasionally. The Guardian have, on this occasion, shown an ability to tell their apse from their ambo.http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/overturning-guardian-orthodoxy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-1946850841451673090Wed, 25 Feb 2015 23:59:00 +00002015-02-26T00:12:16.205+00:00The Least Scientifically and Theologically Literate Article from the Independent Since the Last OneI don't know. I reckon this could be one of the worst ever. In many ways worse than articles in the tabloids telling you that rearranging the astrological chakras in your airing cupboard can make sex better.<br /><br />"<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/new-theory-of-life-could-prove-how-life-began-and-disprove-god-10070114.html?scientificliteracylevel=drivel">New theory could prove how life began and disprove God</a>" says Andrew Griffin in the Indie.<br /><br />The theory is basically "given long enough, things can happen". This is true, but not exactly radical.<br />There is an explanation of the theory given that is, in essence, drivel. I think Andrew Griffin is trying to say something about how organisms apparently break the 2nd law of thermodynamics, but of course don't. I think he's trying to say that. As that is what the original article in <i>Quanta</i> magazine says. But the following.....<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"But a new theory, proposed by a researcher at MIT and first reported in Quanta Magazine, proposes that when a group of atoms is exposed for a long time to a source of energy, it will restructure itself to dissipate more energy. The emergence of life might not be the luck of atoms arranging themselves in the right way, it says, but an inevitable event if the conditions are correct.<br />“You start with a random clump of atoms, and if you shine light on it for long enough, it should not be so surprising that you get a plant,” England said."</blockquote>..... is basically just a set of words vaguely related to each other, piled up in the hope that we believe the author sounds plausible.<br /><br />I got the feeling from the Independent piece that I was missing the whole "and then a miracle happens" box in the flowchart. We're given the researcher's second name &nbsp;but no first name. I was left wondering if the researcher is the entire south-eastern half of the United Kingdom?<br /><br />But here's the killer blow to God from Andrew Griffin's perspective...<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"As Rosenberg notes, the idea that life could have evolved from non-living things is one that has been held for some time, and was described by the pre-Socratic philosophers. But England’s theory marks the first time that has been convincingly proposed since Darwin, and is backed by mathematical research and a proposal that can be put to the test."</blockquote>The idea that life could evolve from non-living things has been a given for ages. The mechanism - the <i>divine spark</i>&nbsp;- if you like - that's the bit that needs a bit more explanation. Though not much. When all is said and done, this is still a theory that if you put energy into an inert mass of material, there is the possibility of life. That's what the "lightning bolt in a chemical soup" theory of the origin of life holds. In a weird kind of way, it's what the creation of Adam describes - the inert Adam, made from the dust of the ground, needs a kick from the outside (the breath of God in this case) to make him move.<br /><br />The Independent article has proved nothing. It's meant nothing. Frankly, it's barely resembled English and never got close to science. And has it disproved God? As far as I can see, the main thing it disproves is that Andrew Griffin is a journalist who should ever write on religion or science.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the actual <a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140122-a-new-physics-theory-of-life/">article in Quanta is here</a>. &nbsp;It's interesting, it's well-written, it accepts the theories that England is setting forward are there to be challenged, and it doesn't mention disproving God at all. Which means it is scientific. It's important sometimes to understand these distinctions. And "England" is actually Jeremy England. Looks a nice, thoughtful young man. Maybe he should write for the Independent. Somebody ought to.http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-least-scientifically-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-1506790219954356309Tue, 24 Feb 2015 17:55:00 +00002015-02-25T21:26:40.581+00:00Church Profiles - Some Clues<div dir="ltr">You know how it is. Your current ministerial posting turned out not to be the New Jerusalem you were sold. And the congregation is starting to realise that you're not exactly the Archangel Gabriel yourself. And so you take yourself off to the jobs pages, and you find yourself trying to decipher the terminology. </div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Just what is a fellowship trying to convey when it's using a piece of ecclesiastical jargon? Is Laudian higher than Traditional?&nbsp; Who raises their arms highest - a charismatic or a high church vicar at the Eucharistic Prayer? Here are the clues you need </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Affirming Catholic: </b>We're keen on everything. And very affirming. We affirm lots of things. In a very gentle, affirming way. Not too specific. More kind of Affirming Fuzziness. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Alternative Episcopal Oversight:</b><b> </b>See "Forward in Faith".</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Anglican</b> - We think a term nobody understands may be better than "Church of England", which everybody does. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Catholic: </b>Not actually proper Roman Catholic. Cos if we were we wouldn't need to say Catholic. And you wouldn't be looking at our profile, would you, Sandra? If you get the job as our minister we'll call you "Father" whether you like it or not. Unless Sandra gets the job, in which case we'll call her "Reverend Sandra", as "Mother" just sounds a bit scary and Psycho-esque.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Celtic: </b>Not really Celtic. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Charismatic: </b>In the 60s we had prophecies, healing and speaking in far-ancient tongues. But we've tidied that down to tweed and Matt Redman.<b> </b></div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Conservative Evangelical:</b><b> </b>God writ it. So you'd better live with it.&nbsp; (Dietary restrictions subject to New Covenant).<br /><br /><b>Dignified worship:&nbsp;</b>No children<br /><br /><b>Diverse: </b>Irreconcilable</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b><b>Ecumenical: </b>Average worship.<br /><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Emergent: </b>Like "Fresh Expression", only vague.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Evangelical:</b> We've all sinned. And now we're all much better. But them out there..... oh boy... God will meet them where they are. And make them like us.<br /><br /><b>Environmentally-sensitive:</b>&nbsp;Pagan</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Forward in Faith:</b> We are dedicated to the unity represented by the Bishop, so much that we got our own.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Fresh Expression:</b><b> </b>Almost completely meaningless. Could be a hymn-singing creche in a tennis club, a family service in a 13th Century church, "Swimming Pool Church" (no petting, smoking or forcible baptism) or a bunch of hipsters getting together each Sunday to have a "who looks most like Moses" competition. </div><div dir="ltr"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5DEFBq5dIlU/VOznubzDX4I/AAAAAAAACJI/fan9g1BLEj8/s1600/gedchurch.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5DEFBq5dIlU/VOznubzDX4I/AAAAAAAACJI/fan9g1BLEj8/s1600/gedchurch.JPG" height="301" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mould-breaking"</td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Inclusive:</b> Welcoming of people of all genders and none; all sexualities and none; all viewpoints except the ones we disagree with.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Laudian: </b>Keen on dressing up. Not too worried about why. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Liberal: </b>Tea lights, pebbles, 1970s hymns played on an 1870s organ. We're progressive, we're hip, we're welcoming, we're loose on doctrine and tight on finances. We're the Church of the future. We'll all be dead in 20 years and the building will be a snooker hall. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Liberal Catholic</b>:&nbsp; We strongly believe in many things.&nbsp; But mostly incense and copes. Oh, do we love incense! Incense, don't you love it? And chasubles....<br /><br /><b>Liturgical Renewal: </b>At the cutting edge since 9am, sometime in 1950.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Milenial: </b>Like Millennial, but mis-spelt.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Millennial: </b>The Reverend Mumford and his sons welcome you. Rend your Collective, not your hearts.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Missional:</b> See "Fresh Expression"</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Modern Catholic:</b> You might think "electric guitars and loads of incense". You might be disappointed. </div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Open Evangelical:</b><b> </b>Like Evangelical but with a longer timescale on Creation. Non-judgemental on sexuality. Not actually judgement. We wouldn't like to judge. Not in a judgemental way...</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Post-Evangelical:&nbsp;</b>Big on love and forgiveness. "Over" all that judgement.<br /><div dir="ltr"></div>We're not of Paul! We're of Jesus! We're post-evangelical, and post-ironic.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Post-Modern: </b>It's not about the grand narratives. It's about the small stories. And my small story is "How do <i>I </i>feel?"</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Reform:&nbsp;</b>Reform is something that happened once. In the 16th Century. Let's not do it again, eh?</div><div dir="ltr"><br /><b>Rural: </b>Ten churches. And the vicarage is haunted.<br /><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Spirit-Led: </b>Erratic and uncontrollable. </div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Strong Choral Tradition: </b>The organist is in control. The organist has always been in control. The organist will always be in control. The organist has sign-off on the Church Profile.&nbsp;</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Traditional Catholic: </b>Like "Catholic". But remove all references to Sandra. And move to 1894.</div><div dir="ltr"><b><br /></b><b>Unique Challenge: </b>We've&nbsp;seen off six ministers in as many years.<br /><b><br /></b></div><div dir="ltr"><b>Welcoming:</b> Needy. </div>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/church-profiles-some-clues.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-5513910521577569179Tue, 24 Feb 2015 08:19:00 +00002015-02-24T08:26:35.998+00:00Broadchurch - Series 2 Finale<p dir="ltr">Spoiler alert. Also I should warn you that my entire experience of watching "Broadchurch" consisted of writing blog posts, occasionally looking up and going "Ooh! West Bay!" </p><p dir="ltr">So a little challenge for you - "Broadchurch" is Bridport/West Bay's third appearance in fiction or drama. </p><p dir="ltr">(A) What were the other two, and what was the town's name in each? <br>(B) Which of the two was the worst venture by a former <i>Eastenders</i> actor since Anita Dobson's recording of <i>Anyone Can Fall in Love</i>?&#160; </p><p dir="ltr">Anyway - the Broadchurch plot as I understood it. Having been on trial for murder, the shaven-headed scary bloke - no, not that one, the other one - is found guilty. In accordance with ancient Dorset law, he is sentenced to be thrown off a picturesque cliff by the local pagans.</p><p dir="ltr">But having prepared him for sacrifice, the pagan priestess (that woman who's in everything) divines that even Manannan Mac Lir will not accept him. The ancient sea god wants him to suffer even worse than this. They consult the local vicar, to find out what thing in all the three creations could be worse than a long drop to a watery grave.</p><p dir="ltr">The vicar consults the Big Book of Divine Retribution and comes up with the answer. So they send him to Sheffield. </p><p dir="ltr">Meanwhile David Tennant gets a taxi. When asked where he's going he responds, enigmatically, "Trenzalore".</p><p dir="ltr">As I say, I wasn't paying much attention. So I may have filled in a few details.</p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/broadchurch-summary.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-5790242541808907408Mon, 23 Feb 2015 23:29:00 +00002015-02-24T07:04:33.147+00:00The Beaker Folk Will Not Pay Below the Living WageIn the light of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31581524">recent comment in the media </a>I've had people coming up to me today asking whether anybody in the Beaker Community is paid under the so-called "living wage". I've no idea why it's called a "living wage", as it's pretty clear that Iain Duncan Smith, for example, couldn't live on it. It wouldn't even keep him in smarm. <br><br>But never mind. The answer to the question is that no, we do not pay anybody in the Beaker Community under the living wage. Hnaef, Daphne, Charlii, Keith and I are paid via an account in the British Virgin Islands. And technically we're not employees, we're charity trustees. So that's all fine.<br><br>Burton Dasset does the role of Treasurer for free as he thinks I might one day be overcome by the realization that everything he does, he does it for me. Which only ends up with more money being funneled via the BVI, to pay for my anti-emetics.<div><br></div><div>And, of the people who perform the more menial roles around the place, I would like to make it clear that Rodrick in the Beaker Bazaar is an intern and Morry is a volunteer. Chezney who works on the till is on work experience. &nbsp;Bernie, the cook, works for the roadkill and because I know what happened to his uncle. And Dazza and Dreidrie, the handy person and cleaner, are respectively just retired and helping out, and self-supporting.<br><br>So no - we at the Beaker Folk don't pay anybody under the living wage. I'm glad I've made that clear.</div>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-beaker-folk-will-not-pay-below.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-5209930487376430778Sun, 22 Feb 2015 22:34:00 +00002015-02-22T22:34:20.776+00:00Emma Watson - The Beaker View<p dir="ltr">It has been claimed that the actress <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11428270/Emma-Watson-denies-she-is-dating-Prince-Harry.html">Emma Watson has been dating Prince Harry</a> </p><p dir="ltr">As a person famous only for &#314;iving in a make believe, fantasy world of strange behaviour; castles, and people with bizarre titles, totally removed from reality - there's no way Harry should be let anywhere near a sensible young woman like Emma Watson.</p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/emma-watson-beaker-view.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-6535380345389031571Sun, 22 Feb 2015 19:15:00 +00002015-02-22T20:33:25.933+00:00Bishops' Pastoral Letter to be Filmed<div dir="ltr">Much excitement in the world of religion, politics and cinema as it is announced that the Bishops' Pastoral Letter is to dramatised. </div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Since it's being adapted by Peter Jackson, it's expected that the 5th part is going to come out about the time of the 2020 election. The part of Grima Wormtongue is to be played by Peter Mandelson. Bishop Libby Lane takes on the role of Eowyn. </div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">There's a satisfying ending, in that the Scouring of the Shire is restored. However after throwing Sharkey and his pals out of power, Frodo and his pals decide that they need to follow exactly the same policies as their predecessors. </div><div dir="ltr"><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UDgajvGEzWU/VOo8w2PIrDI/AAAAAAAACI4/-t7h9fqP3to/s1600/chilcot%2Benquiry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UDgajvGEzWU/VOo8w2PIrDI/AAAAAAAACI4/-t7h9fqP3to/s1600/chilcot%2Benquiry.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://memecrunch.com/meme/6ZBB4/chilcot-enquiry">One does not simply publish the Chilcot Enquiry</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Meanwhile, in a dark cavern under Middle Earth, Gollum raises up his fighting Ukip-Hai. A race that tries to hide their true purposes under the pretence that they are valid participants in the Battle of Five Armies. But whose schemes are always undone because they keep accidentally saying what they're really thinking.</div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr">Far, far &nbsp;away on the Barrow Downs, Tom Bombadil continues to tell everyone to be nice to each other and not worry about possessions. The Minister for Mordor is terribly catty, and points out that Tom's congregation has dwindled to just the Lady Goldberry. And even Gandalf accuses Tom of preaching moral claptrap.&nbsp; But Tom remembers that money, power and even rings are temporary, sings his merry songs, and stays closer to the truths of this world than all the others.</div>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/bishops-pastoral-letter-to-be-filmed.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-5950605982427675824Sat, 21 Feb 2015 21:19:00 +00002015-02-21T21:25:25.439+00:00Somewhere, Over the Rainbow"God said to Noah and to his sons with him, ‘As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.’ God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh." (Genesis 9.8-17)<br /><br />Everybody with a smartphone has a nice picture of a rainbow. Here's one, for example. From when I had a job as a stunt double in that film (let the Reader understand).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8L6BcyxCY2I/VOjTfdvt7oI/AAAAAAAACIg/C9wgWLVKWU8/s1600/headland%2Brainbow%2B3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8L6BcyxCY2I/VOjTfdvt7oI/AAAAAAAACIg/C9wgWLVKWU8/s1600/headland%2Brainbow%2B3.jpg" height="133" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Whereas this one is a real humdinger of a rainbow. It's lucky Constable had his phone with him when he visited Stonehenge, really. And what were the chances of him arriving in weather like this?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aIzv0xP0mAY/VOjTs7h9FII/AAAAAAAACIo/JLUpL85yPV0/s1600/John_Constable_Stonehenge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aIzv0xP0mAY/VOjTs7h9FII/AAAAAAAACIo/JLUpL85yPV0/s1600/John_Constable_Stonehenge.jpg" height="255" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"John Constable Stonehenge".<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Constable_Stonehenge.jpg#mediaviewer/File:John_Constable_Stonehenge.jpg">Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons</a></td></tr></tbody></table>It's a massive, powerful picture. There are human figures in the picture, but they're dwarfed by the stones. The stones themselves - the grandiose wreckage of human endeavour - are in their turn reduced to minor details of the landscape. The thing that dominates this picture - in the same way it does in Turner's more violent, but equally "sublime" landscape - is the sky. And in that brooding, heaving sky, it's the double rainbow that is marked out - its arc falling to ground just behind, or even within, the stones.<br /><br />It's not a magic thing, a rainbow. You can work it all out beautifully, scientifically and mathematically. You can work out how low the sun has to be before one is observable from the ground. You can generate one for yourself, on a sunny day, with a sprinkler attachment on &nbsp;a hose pipe. It's all good, scientific, solid, predictable stuff.<br /><br />But it's a good symbol, nonetheless. I wonder, when that great flood that sparked the legends of all those Floods took place - did the bedraggled survivors, piecing their lives back together, see the rains come storming in, look to the skies, and take comfort? It's a symbol of a covenant as strong as the laws of physics.<br /><br />It's not the covenants where there's stipulations on both sides&nbsp;that give me hope - they depend too much on me. I love&nbsp;God's one-sided covenants.&nbsp;&nbsp;The ones where God promises to make Abraham a nation; to write his laws on our hearts. The rainbow stands in the sky, no matter what we do. Be we as kings or as small as the figures in Turner's Stonehenge, the promise still stands. You can turn around, you can look the other way. You can shut the door and refuse to look out. But as Mr Scott would remind us, ye cannae change the laws of physics. If conditions are right, there will be a rainbow in the sky whatever you do about it.<br /><br />And your rainbow is in a sense a constantly changing thing. You may be in the same place. And the sun is the same, in a relative way. But every moment that you look at a rainbow, the sun is reflecting from (and refracting in) a different set of raindrops. Its constancy is actually the sum total of all its innumerable changes. Maybe that's a symbol in itself. God is ever old and ever new - constantly renewing our world, imagining new things. Our world changes - we grow, grow old and die. Everything is constantly moving, dragged down under the weight of gravity and entropy. And as we change, God moves with us. We are a pilgrim people. Whether spiritually or physically, we have to move. And the sign goes with us - ever changing, yet ever faithful.<br /><br />Twenty-one Christians are murdered - not executed, which the media seems to think is a stronger word - they're murdered, there is none of the legal justification of an execution - on a Libyan beach, simply for following Jesus. Their murderers make up the excuse that these poor labourers - whose church has existed in North Africa since before Muhammad was born - are "crusaders". But the murderers are right that they are people "of the cross". After all, they've just received their cross. And they are welcomed into paradise by the One who took the Cross before them.<br /><br />&nbsp;And where I would want to see bombing raids, a&nbsp;<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2015/02/20/living/coptic-bishop-isis/">Coptic Christian calls out for God to forgive</a>. God's mercies are new every morning. That bishop understands the logic of an unconditional, universal covenant. Even if you're so far from God that you make up lies to justify murdering innocent people, God's grace is still free and available. The pilgrimage of God's people has gone from Noah's promise, through Abraham, through David and Jesus - and God's free promises are still being offered. The promise doesn't require you to kill infidels, but then nor does it ask you to follow some African Christians in their belief that you should persecute gay people. Nor does it ask you to believe in whichever social rules your own religious body believes in. God's eternal promise just needs you to believe the promise.<br /><br />The promise says that God will bear with this dirty old world as long as it takes. And I've no idea how long that is. But a one-sided convenant means however far you wander, whatever you do, wherever you go, whatever the world throws at you, God is still bearing with you - ever changing, ever showing new mercy, but ever the same. You can't stop a rainbow and you can't make it stand still, either. All you can do is look and wonder.http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/somewhere-over-rainbow.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-7113984237091717196Fri, 20 Feb 2015 14:01:00 +00002015-02-20T14:01:14.221+00:00Getting Our Nose Out of Current AffairsIt has been suggested to us that we have, over the last few weeks, focussed possibly too much on the worlds of finance, the press and politics than is necessary for a religious community. And, on balance, I am prepared to accept Iain Duncan Smith's view that the church should leave politics to those quiet men who know what they are doing.<br /><br />Anyway. This afternoon's traditional Swiss worship (with yodeling) will be in the Barclay Room, &nbsp;where we will be considering the Lenten theme of being called to account. And the Sark-style Feast of Non-Registration of Financials will be &nbsp;in the newly-renamed HSBC Moot House. Should be quite an event.http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/getting-our-nose-out-of-current-affairs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-1999497565722175200Thu, 19 Feb 2015 22:02:00 +00002015-02-19T22:03:52.191+00:00That Telegraph Editorial in FullNobody likes us<br />Everybody hates us<br />We think we'll eat some worms.<br /><br />Short, fat hairy ones<br />Long, thin, skinny ones<br />Itsy bitsy buzzy worms.<br /><br />Thanks for the money<br />HSBC<br />Now it's time to eat some worms<br /><br />BBC don't like us<br />Guardian hate us<br />Think we'll go and eat some worms.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/telegraph-view/11423912/The-Telegraphs-promise-to-our-readers.html">Sorry, it's here really.</a>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/that-telegraph-editorial-in-full.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-4040496372090595241Thu, 19 Feb 2015 12:10:00 +00002015-02-19T15:26:19.620+00:00Making the Bishops' Pastoral Letter More VitalLet's ignore Iain Duncan Smith for a minute, shall we?<br /><br /><br />Doesn't that feel better?<br /><br />Now. More intelligent and sensible people than the "Quiet Man" (and let's face it, he has a lot to be quiet about) have commented on the Bishops' Pastoral Letter. Which is, at 52 pages or so, quite a lot of reading in this 3-minute-attention-span world.<br /><br />Charlie Peer, for example, said:<br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">Why are Bishops still sending out pastoral letters (which nobody will read except on the internet) and not uploading pastoral videos?<br />— Charlie P (@CharliePeer) <a href="https://twitter.com/CharliePeer/status/568358127378296832">February 19, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>While Paul Stead said<br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">"The pastoral letter is too long" What did you want, bullet points? Pie charts? Memes?<br />— Paul Stead (@paulstead13) <a href="https://twitter.com/paulstead13/status/568002354475339776">February 18, 2015</a></blockquote>I've considered this. And I've concluded that the sight of the House of Bishops reading out a 53 page document on YouTube is not going to make things any more exciting. Although tweeting the key points with the hashtag #notalltories might not be such a bad idea.<br /><br />But the key in this fast-moving, hyper-connected, communication-overloaded age is, I reckon, to combine Paul and Charlie's ideas into one. I'm thinking of the video like this<br /><br />Bp of Gloucester: "The privileges of living in a democracy mean that we should use our votes thoughtfully, prayerfully....." * Does cartwheel in cathedral *<br /><br />Bp of St Albans: "...&nbsp;and with the good of others in mind, not just our own interests.&nbsp;" * Eats world's hottest chilli *<br /><br />Bp of Bath and Wells: "In Britain, we have become so used to believing that self-interest drives every decision,...." * Skateboards across roof of Westminster Abbey * <br /><br />Bp of Ely: "....that it takes a leap of imagination to argue that there should be stronger institutions for those we disagree with as well as for those 'on our side.'" * Wheelies through Bishop Woodford House on a motorcycle *<br /><br />Bp of Newcastle ""It is not possible to separate the way a person perceives his or her place in the created order from their beliefs, religious or otherwise, about how the world's affairs ought to be arranged." &nbsp;Plays Minecraft for 20 hours <br /><br />Bp of Burnley: "The claim that religion and political life must be kept separate is, in any case, frequently disingenuous....." * picture of cat doing something amusing * <br /><br />Bp of Durham ".....most politicians and pundits are happy enough for the churches to speak on political issues so long as the church agrees with their particular line." * Sledges down church roof on tea try * &nbsp;<br /><br />Bp of Willesden: I've never liked Liberals! * pulls replica Spurs shirt over head *<br /><br />&nbsp;I'd watch it, anyway...<br /><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/making-bishops-pastoral-letter-more.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-2323703219193310248Thu, 19 Feb 2015 11:51:00 +00002015-02-19T11:51:29.436+00:00Lent Giving Up Status - Day 2<b></b><br /><table border="1"><tbody><tr><td><b>Name</b></td><td><b>Given Up</b></td><td><b>Condition</b></td></tr><tr><td>Hnaef</td><td>Chocolate</td><td>Knitting</td></tr><tr><td>Daphne</td><td>Cheese</td><td>Hallucinating</td></tr><tr><td>Burton Dasset</td><td>Train Spotting</td><td>Collecting car number plates</td></tr><tr><td>Drayton Parslow</td><td>Believing in Lent</td><td>Smug</td></tr><tr><td>Marston Moretaine</td><td>Cigarettes</td><td>Finding it very easy, having been turned to stone by Jadis the Ice Witch</td></tr><tr><td>Eileen</td><td>Social Media</td><td>In denial</td></tr><tr><td>Charlii</td><td>Gin</td><td>Eating wine gums</td></tr><tr><td>Young Keith</td><td>Sweets</td><td>Drinking gin</td></tr></tbody></table><br />http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/lent-giving-up-status-day-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-2217797710025707412Wed, 18 Feb 2015 17:26:00 +00002015-02-18T17:26:51.135+00:00Giving Up Blogging For Lent<p dir="ltr">Just to let you all know. I've decided to give up blogging for Lent. </p><p dir="ltr">To blog is, as we know, a creative and enlivening thing to do. But it takes a lot of time and energy. And all that creative effort that goes into being silly about Giles Fraser's latest inconsistency. You know, just being able to 'be" rather than"do" - that's got to be restorative. More time to spend with the Lord. More mediation. More stones 'n' tea lights....</p><p dir="ltr">Oh, wait. What day is it?</p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/giving-up-blogging-for-lent.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-3151363319083619502Wed, 18 Feb 2015 08:29:00 +00002015-02-18T08:30:30.088+00:00Random Acts of Unlicensed Ashing<p dir="ltr">Ash Wednesday!&#160; A day for.... um... I dunno, is it something about Alfred burning the pancakes? </p><p dir="ltr">Anyway,&#160; knowing Lent doesn't start until you have eaten a pancake, we've been carefully avoiding them since yesterday. But we're taking Ashing very seriously. </p><p dir="ltr">So, to reflect the idea that we shall all return to dust 'n' ashes - and that we know not the day nor the hour (nor, quite likely, the postcode) a group of flash mob ashers have been touring the area, giving passersby blasts from Ashington's Patented Ashing Machine. </p><p dir="ltr">The great thing is that, rather than a neat cross of oil and palm ash that leaves Sky News reporters wondering what's going on, the Ashington machine covers them from head to foot in cinders. Unfortunately it was only twenty minutes before the crew were pulled over by Young Keith' s adoptive uncle, the Police officer. </p><p dir="ltr">They're still in custody. Whoever knew you needed a licence for Al Fresco Ashing? </p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/random-acts-of-unlicensed-ashing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4795284845836270713.post-4346614426466224105Tue, 17 Feb 2015 20:53:00 +00002015-02-17T22:46:45.861+00:00Engaging With Politics<p dir="ltr">You know, whether they're Conservative, wet Liberal, Trot or&#160; that bunch of crypto-racists with Bertie Wooster for a leader, it's important that we treat political views with respect, and have an informed debate leading up to the General Election. </p><p dir="ltr">That's why I published my 194-page pamphlet&#160; "Engaging With the Political Process in a Constructive Incarnational, Enculturated Encounter. "</p><p dir="ltr">When I checked, not one Beaker Person had read it all. Not even the 4,000 word digression on how Barthian theology is in dialect with the "land" concept of Brueggeman, in encompassing the corporeality of endogenous growth theory. </p><p dir="ltr">And would you believe it - the Sun hasn't even printed it all in full. Just ran the headline "<u>Maggie-Worshipping</u> Archdruid Says Flog the Slackers". Though I don't know why they just quoted the sub-title of the report like that.</p><p dir="ltr">Honestly, I don't know why we bother.</p>http://cyber-coenobites.blogspot.com/2015/02/engaging-with-politics.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Archdruid Eileen)0